We disembarked from the cruise ship Symphony in Panama to more wonderful local music.

We could see plenty of ships getting ready to enter the canal.

We had rented a car to drive to the other side of the country for our standby flights out of Panama City. Although there is a train that goes across, it was not going at the right time for us. But it gave us a chance to see some of the sights better along the way.

Here is the airport, which has a nice restaurant upstairs.

And we were off! It’s always nice when those standby seats are available for two of us at once!

This is the final shout-out to the ship and crew of Crystal Cruises. We had the best time in the Caribbean and would certainly go again if we get the chance. Some of the passengers would remain onboard for another week, as they toured the Panama Canal, Colombia and other stops, but we couldn’t go the extra week (and had already been through the Panama Canal previously). So it was a sad farewell but the memories linger!

I had toured the ship’s kitchen one of the days at sea, and it’s incredible to see how they prepare all the great meals we enjoyed.

Again–wonderful staff members giving it their all. We ate in the Italian restaurant on our last night and the food and presentation here was also delicious and impressive.

The next place we stopped in Costa Rica was the zip line. I had ridden one in Costa Rica and Thailand before, and was excited to experience the thrill of flying through the trees again!

To our surprise, we ran into some of the staff from the ship that were also going on the zip line. It was great that we ended up in the same group so we could get better acquainted. Later I was able to share photos with them, since they didn’t have cameras.

The girls had been tricked into thinking they were going to the beach, and they were dressed accordingly, which we thought was hilarious.